XIAMEN (China): The 10th China-Central Asia Cooperation Forum was held on Saturday in Xiamen, a key city along the Maritime Silk Road. With more than 400 participants from domestic and international backgrounds, the event aimed to promote joint efforts and expand the horizons of cooperation between China and Central Asia.
The forum is seen as a tangible step towards implementing the agreements reached by the heads of state during the China-Central Asia Summit in May, which heralded a new era of relations between China and Central Asian nations.
Since its inception in 2012, the forum has consistently expanded the scope of cooperation between China and Central Asia and developed into a key platform for promoting regional friendship and promoting mutually beneficial and mutually beneficial outcomes.
A new innovative energy bus took center stage at the China-Central Asia Cooperation Exhibition Area on Saturday, attracting a steady stream of guests and businessmen eager to experience the cutting-edge vehicle. The bus is a new product of Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry Co., Ltd., a leading bus manufacturer in China.
Thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the company has successfully exported more than 1,000 buses to Central Asian countries in the past decade. In March, a total of 200 Golden Dragon BRT buses left Xiamen for Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, marking the start of China’s export of 18-meter BRT buses to Uzbekistan.
“Green industry has huge market potential in Central Asian countries,” said Liu Zhijun, the company’s chairman. He further noted that another goal of the company is to align market interests with Central Asian nations in new energy and other sectors to promote local sustainable development and foster mutually beneficial outcomes.
Jointly exploiting the prospects offered by green and digital progress and promoting high-quality cooperation development in the Belt and Road proved to be a shared consensus among the participants of this forum.
“The Silk Road, an ancient trade route that connected our civilizations, once functioned as a bridge for cultural and economic exchanges,” said Solehzoda Ashurboy, First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Tajikistan. “Today, as we stand at the crossroads of a new era, we remember this shared history and look forward to forging a path that will be equally significant and lasting.”
With the BRI, China and Central Asian countries have achieved full connectivity, promoting deepening cooperation that has consistently yielded significant results, thereby effectively enhancing regional economic and social development. During this forum, many participants expressed their aspirations to further strengthen this connection, opening up new opportunities and prospects for cooperation between China and Central Asia.
Fang Qiuchen, president of the China International Suppliers Association, said the increasingly seamless land and sea links serve as a catalyst for expanding industrial cooperation between the two sides.
He believes that continued efforts to improve the facilitation of international transport and the gradual improvement of connectivity mechanisms and systems will bring vitality to bilateral industrial cooperation and pave the way for mutually beneficial results.
